From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Jun 26 2002 - 13:19:46 EDT
OSCE Official Cautions Against Human Rights Abuses in Central Asia and Caucasus
ALMATY, 26 June 2002 - Participants at an international conference held in
Kazakhstan agreed that a clear line should be drawn between Islam and Islamic
radicalism. The two-day conference "Islam and National Security of Newly
Independent States in Central Asia" was organized by the OSCE Centre in Almaty, the
Kazakh Institute for Strategic Studies (KISI) under the President of the Republic
of Kazakhstan and the Delegation of the European Commission in Kazakhstan in
co-operation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
Head of the OSCE Center in Almaty, Ambassador Heinrich Haupt said at the conference
that strengthening security should not be used as an excuse for human rights
abuses.
Representatives from eminent international research institutions, members of
government and parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scholars and researchers
from Central Asian countries, Russia and the US, as well as representatives of
Kazakhstani non-governmental organizations participated in the event that took
place on 24 and 25 June.
In addition to the necessity of drawing a clear line between Islam and Islamic
radicalism, participants noted that there are groups trying to exploit Islam to
achieve their political goals. Islam itself condemns terror in all its forms. While
taking steps to combat terrorism and strengthening their security, Central Asian
countries should ensure fair balance between legitimate national security concerns
and fundamental freedoms such as the right to life, freedom of thought, conscience
and religion, freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and
the principles of precision and non-retroactivity of criminal law except where a
later law imposes a lighter penalty as stated in the Declaration on human rights
and the combat against terrorism by UN/CoE/ODIHR of November 2001.
The event was organized with financial support of the British Government. A
collection of presentations from the conference will be published by September
2002.
|
